Coupling upscaling finite element method for consolidation analysis of heterogeneous saturated porous media

The coupling upscaling finite element method is developed for solving the coupling problems of deformation and consolidation of heterogeneous saturated porous media under external loading conditions. The method couples two kinds of fully developed methodologies together, i.e., the numerical techniques developed for calculating the apparent and effective physical properties of the heterogeneous media and the upscaling techniques developed for simulating the fluid flow and mass transport properties in heterogeneous porous media. Equivalent permeability tensors and equivalent elastic modulus tensors are calculated for every coarse grid block in the coarse-scale model of the heterogeneous saturated porous media. Moreover, an oversampling technique is introduced to improve the calculation accuracy of the equivalent elastic modulus tensors. A numerical integration process is performed over the fine mesh within every coarse grid element to capture the small scale information induced by non-uniform scalar field properties such as density, compressibility, etc. Numerical experiments are carried out to examine the accuracy of the developed method. It shows that the numerical results obtained by the coupling upscaling finite element method on the coarse-scale models fit fairly well with the reference solutions obtained by traditional finite element method on the fine-scale models. Moreover, this method gets more accurate coarse-scale results than the previously developed coupling multiscale finite element method for solving this kind of coupling problems though it cannot recover the fine-scale solutions. At the same time, the method developed reduces dramatically the computing effort in both CPU time and memory for solving the transient problems, and therefore more large and computational-demanding coupling problems can be solved by computers.     

Coupling multiscale finite element method for consolidation analysis of heterogeneous saturated porous media

The multiscale finite element method is developed for solving the coupling problems of consolidation of heterogeneous saturated porous media under external loading conditions. Two sets of multiscale base functions are constructed, respectively, for the pressure field of fluid flow and the displacement field of solid skeleton. The coupling problems are then solved with a multiscale numerical procedure in space and time domain. The heterogeneities induced by permeabilities and mechanical parameters of the saturated porous media are both taken into account. Numerical experiments are carried out for different cases in comparison with the standard finite element method. The numerical results show that the coupling multiscale finite element method can be successfully used for solving the complicated coupling problems. It reduces greatly the computing effort in both memory and time for transient problems.     

Analysis of Rayleigh waves in saturated porous elastic media by finite element method

A numerical procedure for the analysis of Rayleigh waves in saturated porous elastic media is proposed by use of the finite element method. The layer stiffness matrix, the layer mass matrix and the layer damping matrix in a layered system are presented for the discretized form of the solid-fluid equilibrium equation proposed by Biot. In order to consider the influence of the permeability coefficient on the behavior of Rayleigh waves, attention is focused on the following states: ‘drained’ state, ‘undrained’ state and the states between two extremes of ‘drained’ and ‘undrained’ states. It is found from computed results that the permeability coefficient exerts a significant effect on dispersion curves and displacement distributions of Rayleigh waves in saturated porous media.     

Effective parameters for flow in saturated heterogeneous porous media

Effective parameters for flow in saturated porous media are obtained via Taylor-Aris-Brenner moment analysis considering both periodic as well as stationary porous medium properties. It is assumed that a slug is instantaneously introduced into an unbounded, anisotropic porous medium having a compressible matrix, and that the correlation length of the local hydraulic conductivity and specific storage fluctuations is smaller than the correlation length of hydraulic head fluctuations (gradually varying flow). It is shown that the effective specific storage is equal to its volume average. The effective hydraulic conductivity is derived by a small-perturbation analysis and it is shown to consist of its volume average and of a second term which accounts for the ‘small’ local conductivity fluctuations.     

流体饱和多孔介质黏弹性动力人工边界

基于Biot流体饱和多孔介质本构方程，采用平面波和远场散射波经验叠加来反映外行波传播，以经验参数反映人工边界外行波动的衰减和多角度透射特性。在人工边界处分别施加反映固相和液相介质传播效应的弹簧及阻尼来模拟人工边界以外的无限域介质对来自有限域的外行波的能量的吸收作用。从而形成一种流体饱和多孔介质的黏弹性动力人工边界。数值算例表明：边界的精度和稳定性高于现有的黏性边界、黏弹性人工边界及一阶透射边界。     

无限域地基有限元分析的简化粘弹性边界

本文提出一种能用于无限域地基动、静力有限元分析的简单人工边界——粘弹边界，采用一层边界单元来实现。该边界弹簧部分采用弹性半空间Mindlin解计算，边界单元采用具有粘性阻尼的粘弹材料，通过确定合理的弹性模量、泊松比和粘性阻尼系数，不仅可以使边界单元能够模拟无限域远场的弹性恢复力，同时可以模拟粘性边界。通过算例分析，验证了该边界的有效性，它可用于土-结构动力相互作用分析。     

A viscous boundary for transient analyses of saturated porous media

An absorbing boundary for saturated porous media is developed that can be used for transient analyses in the time domain. The elastic constitutive equations for the saturated porous media follow Bowen's formulation. The method consists of applying viscous tractions along the artificial boundary. The absorbing boundary behaviour is assumed linear and isotropic. Hadamard's conditions provide the speeds of the dilatational and shear waves that propagate in saturated porous media. Since these expressions are frequency independent, the intensities of the viscous tractions are evaluated in the time domain, and the two dilatational waves are accounted for. The viscous tractions are defined from the drained characteristics, assuming an infinite permeability, at variance with the traditional ‘undrained’ method based on undrained characteristics and a null permeability. Solid media and materials with low permeability are also retrieved as subcases. The results show that, at no additional cost, this ‘drained’ method is more accurate for all permeabilities than the ‘undrained’ method, which disregards the existence of the second dilatational wave. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A stochastic model for air injection into saturated porous media

Air injection into porous media is investigated by laboratory experiments and numerical modelling. Typical applications of air injection into a granular bed are aerated bio-filters and air sparging of aquifers. The first stage of the dynamic process consists of air injection into a fixed or a quasi-fixed water-saturated granular bed. Later stages could include stages of movable beds as well, but are not further investigated here. A series of laboratory experiments were conducted in a two-dimensional box of the size 60 cm × 38 cm × 0.55 cm consisting of glass walls and using glass beads of diameter 0.4–0.6 mm as granular material. The development of the air flow pattern was optically observed and registered using a digital video camera. The resulting transient air flow pattern can be characterized as channelled flow in a fixed porous medium with dynamic tree-like evolution behaviour. Attempts are undertaken to model the air injection process. Multiphase pore-scale modelling is currently disregarded since it is restricted to very small scales. Invasion percolation models taking into account gravity effects are usually restricted to slow processes. On the other hand a continuum-type two-phase flow modelling approach is not able to simulate the observed air flow pattern. Instead a stochastic continuum-type approach is discussed here, which incorporates pore-scale features on a subscale, relevant for the immiscible processes involved. Consequently, the physical process can be modelled in a stochastic manner only, where the single experiment represents one of many possible realizations. However, the present procedure retains realistic water and air saturation patterns and therefore produces similar finger lengths and widths as observed in the experiments. Monte Carlo type modelling leads to ensemble mean water saturation and the related variance.     

Finite element techniques for convective-diffusive transport in porous media

Operator-splitting techniques are applied to convective-diffusive transport problems in porous media. The convection is treated by applying a modified method of characteristics to time-step along the characteristics of the convective part of the flow. The nonsymmetry in the spatial operator is addressed via a Petrov-Galerkin method which uses a test function to achieve stability through a balancing of the remaining convection, the diffusion, and any possible reaction terms. The use of time-stepping along characteristics allows the use of large time-steps in a stable but accurate fashion. If local phenomena are important, self-adaptive local grid refinement techniques can be coupled with the operator splitting.     

Numerical analysis of bacterial transport in saturated porous media

A mathematical model to describe bacterial transport in saturated porous media is presented. Reversible/irreversible attachment and growth/decay terms were incorporated into the transport model. Additionally, the changes of porosity and permeability due to bacterial deposition and/or growth were accounted for in the model. The predictive model was used to fit the column experimental data from the literature, and the fitting result showed a good match with the data. Based on the parameter values determined from the literature experimental data, numerical experiments were performed to examine bacterial sorption and/or growth during bacterial transport through saturated porous media. In addition, sensitivity analysis was performed to investigate the impact of key model parameters for bacterial transport on the permeability and porosity of porous media. The model results show that the permeability and porosity of porous media could be altered due to bacterial deposition and growth on the solid matrix. However, variation of permeability due to bacterial growth was trivial compared with natural permeability variation. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Directional permeability of porous media to homogeneous fluids

Summary Investigations have shown that in groundwater- and oil-bearing strata there are preferential directions of flow that are often maintained over wide areas.Johnson & Hughes (1948, see Ref.) analysed a series of oil well cores by cutting them into small horizontal plugs and they obtained directional permeabilities which they plotted in the form of polar graphs. They were not able to give a physical explanation of this phenomenon. On the other hand, there exists a theory of permeability in which the latter is represented as a symmetric tensor. This theory has been developed byFerrandon (1948, see Ref.), but no experimental substantiation of it seems ever to have been attempted.In the present paper, the author undertakes to compare the two sets of findings. FromFerrandon's theory, the directional permeabilities (denoted byk) corresponding to the experiments ofJohnson & Hughes are calculated and it is shown thatk ^–1/2 if plotted as polar graph, should form an ellipse. The data ofJohnson & Hughes are then are drawn. In this manner, a substantiation of the tensor theory ofFerrandon is obtained.

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Zusammenfassung Untersuchungen der Permeabilität von Grundwasser und Erdöl führenden Gesteinsschichten haben gezeigt, dass dieselbe in vielen Fällen richtungsabhängig ist. Hierbei bleibt die Richtung extremaler Permeabilität oft über weite Gebiete konstant.Johnson & Hughes untersuchten eine Reihe von Bohrkernen von Oelquellen auf Richtungsabhängigkeit der Permeabilität. Hierzu schnitten sie aus denselben kleine, waagrechte Stücke, bestimmten deren Permeabilität und stellten das Ergebnis ihrer Messungen in der Form von Permeabilitätspolardiagrammen dar. Sie waren nicht im Stande, eine theoretische Erklärung der erhaltenen Kurven zu geben. Auf der anderen Seite existiert eine Theorie der Permeabilität, wobei die letztere als symmetrischer Tensor behandelt wird. Diese Theorie wurde vonFerrandon vorgeschlagen; es scheint aber, dass keine experimentelle Bestätigung davon je versucht worden ist.In der vorliegenden Arbeit vergleicht der Verfasser die zwei Typen von Untersuchungen. Nach derFerrandon'schen Theorie wird die «gerichtete» Permeabilität (mitk bezeichnet), die den Experimenten vonJohnson & Hughes entspricht, berechnet. Es wird gezeigt, dassk ^–1/2, als Polardiagramm dargestellt, die Gestalt einer Ellipse haben sollte. Die Resultate vonJohnson & Hughes werden dann in die Form vonk ^–1/2 umgerechnet und als entsprechende Polardiagramme dargestellt. In dieser Weise wird eine experimentelle Bestätigung der Tensortheorie vonFerrandon erhalten.

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Published by Permission of Imperial Oil Limited, Calgary, Alberta (Canada).     

饱和多孔介质近场波动分析的一种黏弹性人工边界

采用有限模型数值方法求解能量开放系统中的波动问题时,虚拟人工边界的处理方式对计算结果的准确性和精度具有重要的影响.本文针对无限域饱和多孔介质中波传播问题的人工边界处理方式进行了研究,提出了饱和多孔介质近场波动分析的一种黏弹性人工边界处理方法.在考虑多孔介质中固相和液相的相互作用的情况下,通过在人工边界处分别施加反映固相和液相介质波传播效应的弹簧及阻尼来模拟饱和多孔介质中波的能量辐射效应影响.算例表明,本文建议的黏弹性人工边界具有较好的模拟效果.     

Modeling plume behavior for nonlinearly sorbing solutes in saturated homogeneous porous media

Transport of a sorbing solute in a two-dimensional steady and uniform flow field is modeled using a particle tracking random walk method. The solute is initially introduced from an instantaneous point source. Cases of linear and nonlinear sorption isotherms are considered. Local pore velocity and mechanical dispersion are used to describe the solute transport mechanisms at the local scale. The numerical simulation of solute particle transport yields the large scale behavior of the solute plume. Behavior of the plume is quantified in terms of the center-of-mass displacement distance, relative velocity of the center-of-mass, mass breakthrough curves, spread variance, and longitudinal skewness. The nonlinear sorption isotherm affects the plume behavior in the following way relative to the linear isotherm: (1) the plume velocity decreases exponentially with time; (2) the longitudinal variance increases nonlinearly with time; (3) the solute front is steepened and tailing is enhanced     

Analytical approximations for flow in compressible,saturated, one-dimensional porous media

A nonlinear model for single-phase fluid flow in slightly compressible porous media is presented and solved approximately. The model assumes state equations for density, porosity, viscosity and permeability that are exponential functions of the fluid (either gas or liquid) pressure. The governing equation is transformed into a nonlinear diffusion equation. It is solved for a semi-infinite domain for either constant pressure or constant flux boundary conditions at the surface. The solutions obtained, although approximate, are extremely accurate as demonstrated by comparisons with numerical results. Predictions for the surface pressure resulting from a constant flux into a porous medium are compared with published experimental data.     

On the applicability of the Biot solution to the problems of elastic propagation in saturated porous media

In this paper, the solution of the system of homogeneous Biot equations, which was derived by Biot for the displacement vectors of plane monochrome elastic waves propagating in a homogeneous infinite two-phase medium, is expanded to the case where the propagation area of the elastic waves is limited and the wavefront is a piecewise smooth curved surface. It is shown that the arbitrary system of homogeneous Biot equations for the displacement vectors of the solid and liquid phases can be reduced to three different equations pertaining to the class of Helmholtz equations. From this, irrespective of the geometry of the seismic wavefront and the boundaries of the studied two-phase medium, there is the following. (1) Each displacement vector (of the solid and liquid phase) splits into three independent vectors satisfying three different Helmholtz equations. Two of these vectors correspond to the two types of compressional waves, namely, fast waves (waves of the first kind) and slow waves (waves of the second kind). The third vector describes shear waves. (2) The similar (related to the same wave type) components of the displacement vector in the solid and liquid phases satisfy the same Helmholtz equation and are linked with each other through a corresponding scalar factor that is expressed in terms of the coefficients of the Biot equations. Taking into account the established properties of the displacement vectors in the solid and liquid phases seems to be helpful in the problems dealing with calculation of elastic fields of arbitrary sources in piecewise-homogeneous two-phase media.     

Wavefield simulation in porous media saturated with two immiscible fluids

Wavefields in porous media saturated by two immiscible fluids are simulated in this paper. Based on the sealed system theory, the medium model considers both the relative motion between the fluids and the solid skeleton and the relaxation mechanisms of porosity and saturation (capillary pressure). So it accurately simulates the numerical attenuation property of the wavefields and is much closer to actual earth media in exploration than the equivalent liquid model and the unsaturated porous medium model on the basis of open system theory. The velocity and attenuation for different wave modes in this medium have been discussed in previous literature but studies of the complete wave-field have not been reported. In our work, wave equations with the relaxation mechanisms of capillary pressure and the porosity are derived. Furthermore, the wavefield and its characteristics are studied using the numerical finite element method. The results show that the slow P3-wave in the non-wetting phase can be observed clearly in the seismic band. The relaxation of capillary pressure and the porosity greatly affect the displacement of the non-wetting phase. More specifically, the displacement decreases with increasing relaxation coefficient.     

The stability of density-driven flows in saturated heterogeneous porous media

This work concludes the investigations into the stability of haline flows in saturated porous media. In the first part [33] a stability criterion for density-driven flow in a saturated homogeneous medium was derived excluding dispersion. In the second part [34], the effects of dispersion were included. The latter criterion made reasonable predictions of the stability regimes (indicated by the number of fingers present) as a function of density and dispersivity variations. We found out that destabilising variables caused an increase in the number of fingers and vice versa. The investigation is extended here for the effects of the medium heterogeneity. The cell problem derived via homogenization theory [20] is solved and its solution used to evaluate the elements of the macrodispersion tensor as functions of time for flow aligned parallel to gravity. The longitudinal coefficient exhibits asymptotic behaviour for favourable and moderately unfavourable density contrasts while it grows indefinitely for higher density contrasts. The range of densities stabilised by medium heterogeneities can thus be estimated from the behaviour of the coefficient. The d³f software program is used for the numerical simulations. The code uses the cell-centred finite volume and the implicit Euler techniques for the spatial and temporal discretisations respectively.     

气饱和孔洞型介质动静参数关系的数值模拟研究

采用实验手段研究岩石的动、静弹性参数的变化规律及动、静态参数间的相互关系时存在着测试成本高,工作量大,普适性差且可靠性较低等问题.对岩样在单轴压缩加载条件下的破坏过程,采用岩石破裂过程分析RFPA系统进行数值模拟,获取岩样的应力—应变曲线可计算得到静态弹性参数.从弹性波动理论出发,采用交错网格有限差分方法,对超声波透射实验进行数值模拟,获取纵、横波速度可计算得到动态弹性参数.对50块不同的气饱和孔洞型岩样同步计算其动、静态弹性参数,并分析动、静态弹性参数随孔隙度的变化规律及动、静态弹性参数间的关系.结果表明:动弹性模量大于静弹性模量,且二者之间的线性关系良好,而动、静泊松比之间不存在明显的相关关系.该项研究为动、静弹性参数关系研究提供了新的方法,研究结果对于指导储层预测、油气检测以及地震资料综合解释都有重要的意义.